County right to ask about fire funding

It’s all about accountability, this semi-settled dispute between the Worcester County Commissioners and the Town of Berlin over fire company funding, and it isn’t difficult to understand both sides of the argument.

With firefighters and emergency medical services having to cover growing populations outside municipal jurisdictions, the obligation to see that this coverage is provided falls on the county. Communities, meanwhile, shouldn’t be expected to underwrite the costs of these out-of-town missions.

At the same time, however, local elected officials tend to believe the companies should report to them exclusively, because that’s been the traditional setup.  This is despite fire departments’ greatly increased responsibilities in the unincorporated areas, where much of the county’s population growth has occurred.

What this has led to, as was evidenced at the county commissioners meeting this week, is that the county is being called on to pay more for these expanded services but to leave it at that and to keep out of municipal affairs.

That’s an unrealistic and unfair expectation, considering that the commissioners have a duty to look after the welfare of their constituents in the unincorporated areas served by town-based emergency services.

The commissioners can’t do that by simply handing over money and moving on to other things, and they have every right to demand that their contributions to fire departments are being spent appropriately.

The thrust of the county’s fire grants, after all, isn’t just to prevent municipal taxpayers from paying for services for nonresidents, but to ensure that the commissioners’ constituents have adequate coverage as well.

If the towns and the county can’t accommodate each other in that regard, it’s conceivable the day will come when the county begins to attach more strings to its funding of emergency services and to require more accountability from the towns on how it’s spent.